SWDBY Swedbank A B (PK)

By Dominic Chopping 

STOCKHOLM -- Swedbank AB said Friday that Sweden's financial supervisory authority is investigating the bank for suspected breaches of market-abuse regulations.

In a statement, the bank said the investigation covers the period between Sep. 20, 2018, through Feb. 20, 2019, and relates to the disclosure of insider information and the obligation to establish an insider list in connection with the disclosure of suspected money laundering within the company.

The Swedish FSA confirmed that it has opened an investigation. Swedbank said it is assisting in the investigation.

Swedbank has been in the spotlight in recent years after a Swedish TV show reported in 2019 that billions of dollars in potentially illicit funds may have passed through the bank's Estonian branch.

Following a probe that concluded earlier this year, the Swedish FSA handed Swedbank a 4 billion Swedish kronor fine after finding the lender's Baltic operations had serious deficiencies in its anti-money-laundering measures as well as shortcomings in its cooperation with the investigation.

A law firm hired by the bank also concluded that it had inadequate systems to manage money-laundering risk, but said it didn't conclude that Swedbank engaged in money laundering.

In March, Swedbank said it notified the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control of potential sanctions violations regarding $4.8 million of transactions following an internal probe.

Swedbank has undergone a leadership shuffle, including the hiring top risk and compliance executives. The lender last year named a new chief executive and appointed a permanent chief compliance officer. In March, the lender named a new chief risk officer.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2020 14:14 ET (18:14 GMT)

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